Author: Mirits

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London — A surge in support for far-right parties in Europe is driving calls for a toughening of migration laws, while also raising questions over the future of military aid to Ukraine. Austria’s Freedom Party, which was founded by former Nazis after World War II, is the latest European far-right party to score a shocking win, taking just under 29% of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election, ahead of the second-place People’s Party with 26.3%. ‘Fortress Austria’ The Freedom Party, led by Herbert Kickl, campaigned on a platform of ending migration by creating what it called “Fortress Austria,” carrying out the “remigration of uninvited foreigners” and suspending the right to asylum. The party also opposes military aid for Ukraine and wants to end sanctions on Russia. Kickl successfully appealed to voters’ frustrations over recent years, said Austrian pollster and political analyst, Peter Hajek. “Elections are won in those four and a half years before, by taking a position which is clearly distinguishable and good from the point of view of the target audiences,” Hajek told The Associated Press. “And quite simply that’s what the Freedom Party managed to do with two big topics: on the one hand migration, and on the other — still — the coronavirus.” Far-right success Far-right, anti-immigration parties have won parliamentary elections in the Netherlands in 2023, Italy and Hungary in 2022, a state election in Germany in last month and the European parliamentary elections in France in June. Hans Kundnani, an adjunct professor at New York University and the author of the book Eurowhiteness, said centrist parties in Europe are alarmed by the rise of the far right. “Another election in Europe, another far right success. The response of the center-right in Europe to that has been to say we have to get even tougher on immigration. The center right has increasingly been mimicking far right parties, especially far right ideas on these questions around identity and immigration and Islam,” Kundnani told VOA. EU summit Immigration is likely to top the agenda at an EU summit on October 17, as European leaders from across the political spectrum have called for a toughening of asylum laws amid growing domestic political pressures. “A shift in the EU towards thinking much more in terms of a ‘Fortress Europe’ — that’s building a wall essentially around the EU,” Kundnani said. The hardening of attitudes marks a sharp turnaround from 2015 … “Far-right gains in Europe drive debate on migration, Ukraine aid” →

Europe looks set to toughen migration laws amid a surge in support for far-right parties across the continent. Austria’s Freedom Party – which campaigned on a platform of ending migration and opposing military aid for Ukraine – finished first in Sunday’s election, although its rivals have said they will refuse to enter a coalition. Henry Ridgwell reports. …

Israel’s campaign against Hamas in the aftermath of the October 7 attack has seen Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the forefront of condemning Israel. However, analysts say Turkey is becoming increasingly sidelined from efforts to end the crisis in a region where Erdogan once sought to play a leading role. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. …

Copenhagen — Police in Denmark and Sweden said on Wednesday they were probing explosions and gunfire around Israeli embassies in their capitals that took place amid spiraling Middle East tensions. In Denmark, police said three Swedish nationals had been arrested after two blasts were reported in the “immediate proximity” of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen early Wednesday. Swedish police said the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm had been targeted in a shooting on Tuesday just before 6 p.m. No injuries were reported from the incidents, but both came amid heightened international fears as Iran fired missiles at Israel, which has vowed to respond to the attack. “Two explosions occurred at 3:20 a.m. at the Israeli Embassy. It is our preliminary assessment that it was due to two hand grenades,” Jens Jespersen of the Copenhagen police said at a press conference. He added that three Swedes between the ages of 15 and 20 had been arrested. The police officer explained that one suspect was arrested shortly after the incident near the crime scene and that the other two had been arrested later. Police said in an earlier statement that two suspects had been arrested on a train at Copenhagen Central Station. “It’s too early to say if there is a link” between the blasts and the Israeli Embassy, Danish police spokesperson Jakob Hansen said of the Copenhagen incidents. By midmorning, the area in Copenhagen was cordoned off and police were working at the scene, an AFP correspondent observed. Denmark’s intelligence service, PET, said it was monitoring events “closely” and assisting the police investigation. “We are also in dialogue with the Israeli embassy about security, and are constantly assessing the scale of the security measures already implemented in relation to a number of Jewish locations,” PET said in a statement to AFP. Writing on X, Israeli Ambassador to Denmark David Akov said he was “shocked by the appalling incident near the embassy a few hours ago.” Swedish police said in a statement that information indicated the Israeli Embassy building had been hit by shots on Tuesday evening. “We’ve made finds that indicate a shooting at Israel’s Embassy, but we don’t want to disclose exactly what finds have been made since there is an ongoing investigation,” Rebecca Landberg, Stockholm police press officer, told AFP. Landberg added that an investigation had been opened into an aggravated weapons offense, endangerment of others and unlawful threats. Police had … “Blasts, shooting happen near Israeli embassies in Nordic capitals” →

TALLINN, Estonia — Four Russian journalists went on trial in Moscow on Wednesday after being accused of working for an anti-corruption group founded by the late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, which was designated by authorities as an extremist organization in 2021. Antonina Favorskaya, Artyom Kriger, Sergey Karelin and Konstantin Gabov were arrested earlier this year and charged with involvement with an extremist group, a criminal offense punishable by up to six years in prison. All four have rejected the charges. The trial, which is being held behind closed doors, is the latest step in the Kremlin’s unrelenting crackdown on dissent that has reached unprecedented levels after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. The authorities have targeted opposition figures, independent journalists, rights activists and ordinary Russians critical of the Kremlin with criminal and misdemeanor charges, jailing hundreds and prompting thousands to leave the country, fearing prosecution. The four journalists were accused of working with Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption, which was designated as extremist and outlawed by the Russian authorities in 2021. That designation has been widely seen as politically motivated. Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest and most prominent foe and relentlessly campaigned against official corruption in Russia. In February, Navalny died in a remote Arctic prison while serving a 19-year sentence on a number of charges, including running an extremist group, which he had rejected as politically driven. Favorskaya and Kriger worked with SotaVision, an independent Russian news outlet that covers protests and political trials. Gabov is a freelance producer who has worked for multiple organizations, including Reuters. Karelin is a freelance video journalist who has done work for Western media outlets, including The Associated Press. As they were led into the courtroom on Wednesday, a crowd of supporters greeted them with applause. In the courtroom, the four smiled at their loved ones from a glass defendant’s cage. Addressing reporters from behind the glass, Kriger cast the case against him and his fellow journalists as a cautionary tale and urged journalists still in Russia to leave the country: “It is not a joke. Any person can be charged with anything.” Favorskaya, in turn, spoke about hope: “Everything that is happening now, the darkness that surrounds us, it is not forever, and we will definitely see the country that Alexei [Navalny] dreamed of, we will definitely live in a country where rights and freedoms will be … “4 Russian journalists accused of working for Navalny group go on trial” →

Geneva — Russian authorities have subjected hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners of war to “widespread and systematic torture” while supervisors in detention facilities aware of that treatment did nothing to stop the abuse, according to a report published by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. “We have interviewed 174 Ukrainian prisoners of war, and this includes five medics since March of last year, and almost every single one provided credible and reliable and detailed accounts of torture and severe ill-treatment,” Danielle Bell, head of the U.N. human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, told journalists in Geneva. Speaking Tuesday via video link from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Bell said the POWs described “severe beatings, electric shocks, sleep deprivation, dog bites, mock executions” and other threatening and degrading treatment. She said 68% of the POWs reported that “sexual violence, torture and ill treatment occurs at all stages of captivity under appalling internment conditions” across multiple facilities in the occupied territory and the Russian Federation. She said the routine nature of the abuse, which occurred on a daily or weekly basis and continued throughout the period of internment — sometimes as long as up to three years — “indicated knowledge of faculty supervisors.” “When external officials of the Russian Federation visited internment sites, in many instances, the torture and ill treatment temporarily ceased and conditions improved, indicating that those responsible for these facilities were aware of the mistreatment,” she said. “Russian public figures have openly called for the inhumane treatment and execution of Ukrainian POWs,” she said, adding that “these factors, combined with the adoption of broad amnesty laws for Russian service persons, have contributed to a climate of impunity.” The United Nations report, which describes conditions of detention as poor, “with most POWs reporting food shortages, lack of medical care, overcrowding and poor hygienic conditions,” says 10 Ukrainian POWs have died due to “torture, lack of medical care and dire health conditions.” Of the 205 Russian POWs interviewed since March 2023, the report says 104 were subjected to torture or ill-treatment by Ukrainian authorities “during the initial stages of their captivity,” including severe beatings, threats of death and physical violence. “However, in nearly all cases, torture and ill-treatment stopped when prisoners arrived at official places of internment, where conditions appeared generally compliant with international standards,” it says. Bell underlined differences in the scope and scale of the treatment meted out … “Russian authorities systematically torture Ukrainian POWs, UN says” →

Vatican City, Holy See — Pope Francis launched new consultations Wednesday on the future of the Roman Catholic Church, as it faces pressure over the role of women and the ongoing scourge of clerical child abuse.   The General Assembly of the Synod, comprising 368 religious and lay people — including women — from around 100 countries, will hold closed-door debates on potential reforms at the Vatican until October 27.   The synod had already gathered for a month-long assembly in October 2023, after a three-year worldwide consultation among Catholics organized by Francis to confront challenges facing the 2,000-year-old Church.   The 87-year-old Argentine pontiff will have the final say on any doctrinal changes they recommend.   Last year, the assembly addressed themes as varied as attitudes to LGBTQ people, polygamy, the ordination of married men and the fight against the sexual abuse of children by priests.   Although the body resisted pressure to allow the ordination of female priests, calls continue for more visibility and space for women in an institution still run by men.   No decisions are expected any time soon, with the most sensitive issues entrusted to working groups that will deliver their conclusions in June 2025.    Francis launched the Assembly with a mass in St Peter’s Square, where he urged participants to enter the discussions with an open mind.   “Let us be careful not to see our contributions as points to defend at all costs or agendas to be imposed,” he said.   He added that the meeting was “not a parliamentary assembly, but rather a place of listening in communion.”   On Tuesday evening, Francis held a “penitential” vigil attended by around 2,5000 people in St Peter’s Basilica, during which he again asked forgiveness and expressed his “shame” for the abuse by priests that has overshadowed the Church’s work across the world.   People at the vigil heard from a South African former choirboy who was assaulted by a priest when he was just 11, and who denounced a lack of transparency and responsibility in and by the Church that he said had shaken the faith of millions of people.   “We are here as beggars of the Father’s mercy, asking for forgiveness,” Francis said.   “How could we be credible in our mission if we do not acknowledge our mistakes and stoop to heal the wounds we have caused by our sins?” he added. …

LONDON/DUBAI — An OPEC+ panel is unlikely this week to recommend any changes to its current deal to reduce production and to start unwinding some cuts from December, despite recent sharp declines in oil prices, five sources from the producer group told Reuters. Top ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, or OPEC+ as the group is known, will hold an online joint ministerial monitoring committee meeting on Wednesday. “Although the oil market situation is a bit complicated, I do not expect a new decision or any change to the OPEC+ agreement in Wednesday’s meeting,” one of the sources said, declining to be identified. Oil prices have fallen in 2024 with Brent crude last month slipping below $70 a barrel for the first time since 2021, pressured by concern about global demand and rising supply outside OPEC+. Brent was trading near $71 on Tuesday. OPEC+ is currently cutting output by a total of 5.86 million barrels per day (bpd), or about 5.7% of global demand, in a series of steps agreed since late 2022. Its latest agreement calls for OPEC+ to raise output by 180,000 bpd in December, part of a plan to gradually unwind its most recent layer of voluntary cuts during 2025. The hike was delayed from October after prices slid. Compliance by countries with cuts will also be in focus at the meeting and in coming weeks, particularly that of Iraq and Kazakhstan which have promised so called compensation cuts of 123,000 bpd in September and more in later months to make up for past over-production. An OPEC+ source told Reuters last week that when it becomes clearer that the compensation cuts are being made in September, this will allow the December increase to go ahead as the net supply addition to the market will be minimal. However, a lack of compliance could prompt Saudi Arabia and others to unwind their cuts faster from December, analysts said. “If they fail to comply, we can envision a swifter sunsetting of the voluntary cuts,” Helima Croft of RBC Capital said in a report. The JMMC, which groups the oil ministers from Saudi Arabia, Russia and other leading producers, usually meets every two months and can make recommendations to change policy. …

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Danish police said on Wednesday they were investigating two blasts in the vicinity of Israel’s embassy in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen. “No one has been injured, and we are carrying out initial investigations at the scene,” Copenhagen police said on social media platform X. “A possible connection to the Israeli embassy, located in the area, is being investigated,” they said. A large area was cordoned off amid heavy police presence, according to local media reports. Investigators were seen wearing coverall suits as they combed the scene for evidence, tabloid B.T. reported. The Israeli embassy was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters. Police said they will give an update on the investigation in the hours ahead. …

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GENEVA — The volume of Switzerland’s glaciers shrank again this summer, compounding the negative impact of climate change after a devastating two-year run that depleted the ice by more than 10%, scientific experts reported Tuesday. The cryosphere observation team at the Swiss Academy of Sciences reported that high temperatures in July and August, combined with the heat-absorbing impact of reddish-yellow dust blown northward from the Sahara Desert onto Swiss glaciers, led to a loss of 2.5% of their volume this year. The shrinkage came despite “extremely favorable” conditions through June, the academy said, thanks to 30% more snowfall in the preceding winter compared to average levels, meaning that the glaciers had an extra layer of protective covering of snow — before temperatures rose. “August saw the greatest loss of ice recorded since measurements began,” the academy said in a statement summarizing the findings. “The retreat of the glacier tongues and their disintegration continue unabated as a result of climate change,” it said, adding that the 2.5% loss of volume was higher than the average levels over the last decade. Experts at the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland network, known as GLAMOS, said that more than half of the glaciers it monitored completely lost their snow coverage throughout the summer. Several topmost measurement points on glaciers, such as Plaine Morte and Gries in the south and Silvretta in the east, recorded melt rates of a meter or more, the network said in a report for the Swiss Academy of Sciences. GLAMOS cited three factors: “very high” average air temperatures in July and August; good weather in those months in which there was no fresh snow; and southwesterly winds in the winter and spring that dumped the Saharan dust onto the Alps, causing a warming effect on the ice. Switzerland is home to the most glaciers of any country in Europe, and saw 4% of its total glacier volume disappear last year. That was the second-biggest decline in a single year on top of a 6% drop in 2022. …

ATHENS, Greece — Hundreds of firefighters and volunteers in southern Greece battled a wildfire for a third day that has killed two people and devastated a large forested area, prompting pledges of assistance from other European Union countries. Two waterbombing aircraft from Italy joined the firefighting effort late Tuesday after Greece requested help through the 27-country bloc’s emergency civil protection mechanism. A third plane from Croatia was also expected. The Greek fire service said more than 400 firefighters, assisted by 22 aircraft, were engaged against the blaze in the rugged mountains of Corinthia in the Peloponnese region. The authorities were optimistic that progress had been made as the main front of the blaze was out, leaving a large number of scattered fires. However, it remained unclear whether that success could be expanded on before winds whipped up and spread the blaze again. Greece’s minister for climate change and civil protection, Vassilis Kikilias, said so far up to 5,000 hectares (12,300 acres) had been affected by the blaze. “The situation is very difficult,” he told a press conference. “We didn’t expect that at this time of year … there would be so many wildfires and that they would be so difficult to handle.” While wildfires are common in the summer, this year the season started much earlier than usual, in April, and has extended well into the fall. The fire service said a total of 41 wildfires broke out all over the country over the past 24 hours. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said firefighters had been hampered in their initial response Sunday by the difficult terrain and poor road network. “During the first, crucial stage of the fire, firetrucks had great difficulty approaching (the blaze) because of the narrow roads,” he said. “The many ravines and the gale-force winds blowing that day greatly impeded” the firefighting effort, Marinakis added. Officials ordered another village be evacuated as a precaution Tuesday, a day after half a dozen similar orders were issued. A major highway that was closed overnight as flames swept close by was reopened on Tuesday. The blaze destroyed a historic church in the mountains and reportedly damaged buildings outside the threatened villages, but the fire service was not immediately able to provide further details. The two victims were identified as local residents who got trapped late Sunday by the fast-advancing blaze. Greece, like other southern European countries, is plagued every summer by … “Hundreds of firefighters battle a deadly forest fire raging in southern Greece” →

Madrid — Among those not present at Tuesday’s inauguration of Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, was the Spanish monarch.  Sheinbaum did not invite King Felipe VI of Spain to the ceremony after the monarch did not respond to a letter demanding that he apologize for Spain’s 16th century defeat of Mexico’s powerful Aztec rulers.  Today, a diplomatic dispute between Mexico and Spain over the event half a millennium ago is motivated more by domestic political tensions in both countries, analysts said.  The issue of Spain’s colonial past has also revealed political splits within Spain’s own left-wing coalition government, observers noted.  In 2019, Mexican President Andres Lopez Obrador, who is known as AMLO and is an ally of Sheinbaum, wrote to King Felipe and Pope Francis to ask them to apologize for the abuses during and after the 1519-1521 conquest.  Sheinbaum said that when King Felipe failed to respond, he was not invited to the ceremony, Reuters reported.  The snub to King Felipe prompted the Spanish government to say it would not participate “at any level.”  During a visit to New York last week for the United Nations General Assembly, Reuters reported that Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez ruled out participating in Tuesday’s ceremony in Mexico City.  “Spain and Mexico are brotherly peoples. We cannot therefore accept being excluded like this,” he said.  “That’s why we have made it known to the Mexican government that there will be no diplomatic representative from the Spanish government, as a sign of protest.”  Historic wounds  Historians agree that Spain’s conquest of Mexico was marked by violence.  However, accounts from that time, including The True History of the Conquest of Mexico by Captain Bernal Diaz del Castillo, counter claims of cruelty while also being critical of the campaign by Hernan Cortes.  Spain’s government has rejected Mexico’s demand for an apology for the conquest, saying the events of the past cannot be judged by the standards of today.  Observers suggest that Sheinbaum’s decision not to invite the Spanish king was motivated by a current of anti-Spanish thought she shares with AMLO.  Commentators said both Mexican leaders have sought to appropriate a version of history which blames the Spanish conquest for ills which afflict modern Mexico.   Jos Maria Ortega, a Mexico-based analyst who has co-written The Dispute of the Past: Spain, Mexico, and the Black Legend, said: “AMLO and Sheinbaum share the idyllic view that Mexico had … “Dispute over Spain’s past domination of Mexico reveals domestic divisions” →

London  — Another overseas, nonpermanent judge at Hong Kong’s top court, 86-year-old Briton Nicholas Phillips, has chosen not to renew his term after it ended on Sept. 30, becoming the fifth foreign judge to step down from the Court of Final Appeal this year. Phillips told VOA through his chamber, Brick Court Chambers, in an email Monday, “I have declined the invitation to serve for a further 3 year term on the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong for personal and not political reasons.” According to the chamber, he would not comment further. The Hong Kong Judiciary thanked him in a statement sent to online media The Witness for his contribution to the work of the Court of Final Appeal and his support for the rule of law in Hong Kong during his tenure over the past 12 years. It added that “the recent changes in court personnel will not affect the operation of the Court of Final Appeal.” It went on to say despite the departure of the judges this year, the majority of serving and outgoing nonpermanent judges have publicly reaffirmed their continued confidence in Hong Kong’s independent judicial system and the courts’ commitment to upholding the rule of law. The Court of Final Appeal is formed by the chief justice, three local permanent judges, and 10 nonpermanent judges. The nonpermanent judges include four local judges and six overseas judges. Anthony Gleeson, an 85-year-old former chief justice from Australia, did not renew his term in March, citing his advanced age. Canadian judge Beverley McLachlin also said she would not renew her term after July because she was 80 and hoped to spend more time with family. In June, two British judges, Lawrence Collins, 83, and Jonathan Sumption, 75, resigned from the court, saying it was because of the city’s worsening political situation and “profoundly compromised” rule of law. Rights activists say Hong Kong’s government is using the foreign judges to lend credibility to its crackdown on rights and freedoms since Britain returned the financial hub to China in 1997. The Washington-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation issued a report in May criticizing overseas judges in Hong Kong for undermining its freedoms and called for them to quit. The foundation said it was shocked that it took Phillips so long to quit despite a series of high-profile cases targeting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy groups, which prompted at … “British justice at Hong Kong’s top court declines to renew term” →

London — As the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel approaches, many European countries are strengthening their calls for Israel to end its assault on Hamas targets in Gaza amid growing horror at the civilian death toll.   The militant attack killed 1,200 people, including Israelis and people of several other nationalities. Around 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas. The assault prompted outrage from Israel’s allies in Europe. “This Hamas attack is terrible, and it is barbaric. In these dark hours for the Jewish state, we … stand firmly by Israel’s side,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in the hours following the attack. Then-British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak echoed those words of support. “I want to express my absolute solidarity for the people of Israel. Now is not a time for equivocation, and I’m unequivocal,” Sunak said on the day following the attack. Israel’s Western allies, most prominently the United States, said the country had the right to defend itself. Israel responded with waves of airstrikes on Hamas targets and a ground invasion of Gaza. Israel officials defended targeting schools and hospitals in Gaza, saying Hamas fighters were using them as bases and to store weapons.   ‘Miscalculation’ But soon, Western concern grew over the mounting civilian death toll, which reached 22,000 by the end of 2023, and has since climbed to over 41,000. “I think there was a miscalculation on behalf of most Western governments — that they went all in in support for Israel early on, making it very, very difficult to find some sort of off-ramp to also tell Israel when it was wrong, when it acted excessively,” said Andreas Krieg, a Middle East analyst at Kings College London. “As this became clearer in late 2023 and early 2024, most Western governments found it very hard to backtrack from the initial unequivocal support that they gave to Israel.” There was also global concern over the lack of aid reaching Gaza amid the devastation. South Africa brought an ongoing case of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, supported, among others, by Spain, Ireland and Belgium. An interim ruling by the court ordered Israel to “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.” Israel insisted it … “Europe hardens cease-fire calls as October 7 anniversary of Hamas attack nears” →

As the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas cross-border attack on Israel approaches, many European countries are strengthening their calls for Israel to end its assault on Hamas targets in Gaza amid growing horror at the civilian death toll. Henry Ridgwell reports from London. …

Brussels — The new head of NATO vowed on Tuesday to help shore up Western support for war-ravaged Ukraine and expressed confidence that he can work with whoever is elected president of the United States, the alliance’s most powerful member, in November. “There can be no lasting security in Europe without a strong, independent Ukraine,” new NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in his first speech on taking office, and he affirmed a commitment made by the organization’s leaders in 2008 that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO.” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces are making advances in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s army has a shaky hold on part of the Kursk region in Russia, which has provided a temporary morale boost, but as casualties mount it remains outmanned and outgunned. “The cost of supporting Ukraine is far, far lower than the cost we would face if we allow Putin to get his way,” Rutte told reporters, a few hours after his predecessor Jens Stoltenberg handed the reins to him, along with a Viking gavel with which to chair future meetings. But Ukraine’s NATO membership remains a distant prospect. Several member countries, led by the U.S. and Germany, believe that Ukraine should not join while it’s fighting a war. Rutte declined to speculate about what must happen before it can stand among NATO’s ranks. Rutte did single out China, and particularly Beijing’s support for Putin. “China has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war in Ukraine. China cannot continue to fuel the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War without this impacting its interests and reputation,” he said. NATO’s new top civilian official also underlined the importance of keeping the trans-Atlantic bond between the United States, Canada and Europe strong, with U.S. elections just a month away. Surveys suggest the election will be a close race. It could see the return of Donald Trump, whose bluster during his last term of office about low defense spending among European allies and Canada undermined the trust of NATO member countries. It became an existential challenge, as smaller members feared that the U.S. under Trump would renege on NATO’s security pledge that all countries must come to the rescue of any ally in trouble, the foundation stone the alliance is built on. But Rutte said: “I know both candidates very well.” He praised Trump for pushing NATO allies to spend more and for toughening their … “NATO’s new chief makes Ukraine support a top priority, says he’ll work with any US president” →

Berlin — A Chinese woman has been arrested in the German city of Leipzig on suspicion of foreign agent activities and passing on information regarding arms deliveries, the prosecutor general said in a statement on Tuesday.  The suspect, named only as Yaqi X, is accused of passing on information obtained while working for a logistics company at Leipzig/Halle airport to a member of the Chinese secret service, who is being prosecuted separately, the statement said.  The second Chinese national, named as Jian G, was working as an aide to Maximilian Krah, a member of the European Parliament for the far-right Alternative for Germany, when he was arrested this year on suspicion of “especially severe” espionage on behalf of Beijing.  The information passed along by Yaqi X in 2023 and 2024 included flight, cargo and passenger data as well as details on the transportation of military equipment and people with ties to a German arms company, the prosecutor general said.   The Chinese Embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.  Anxiety about alleged Chinese spying has risen across Western Europe recently. Beijing has denied the accusations, saying these stem from a “Cold War mindset” and are designed to poison the atmosphere for cooperation between China and Europe.  Tensions have also been simmering between Berlin and Beijing over the past year after Chancellor Olaf Scholz unveiled a strategy to de-risk Germany’s economic relationship with China, calling Beijing a “partner, competitor and systemic rival.”     …

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moscow — A Russian court Monday gave a life sentence to a man convicted in a car bombing that seriously wounded nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin. Prosecutors said the May 2023 bombing in the Nizhny Novogorod region was conducted at the direction of Ukraine’s security services. Prilepin was seriously injured, and his driver died in the bombing. The convicted defendant, Alexander Permyakov, is from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and once fought with the Russian-backed separatists there, news reports said.  Prilepin was known for his vehement defense of both the Russia-backed eastern Ukraine rebels who rose up in 2014, and of Russia’s fighting in Ukraine that began in February 2022. Since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, two prominent nationalist figures have been killed. Darya Dugina, a commentator on Russian TV channels and the daughter of Kremlin-linked ideologue Alexander Dugin, died in an August 2022 car bombing that investigators suspected was aimed at her father. Vladlen Tatarsky, a well-known military blogger, died in April 2023, when a statue given to him at a party in St. Petersburg exploded. Russian political activist Darya Trepova was convicted in the case and sentenced to 27 years behind bars. She said she was following orders from a contact in Ukraine.  …

Washington — On a quiet May morning, two months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the homepage of Kremlin-owned news website Lenta.ru was flooded with anti-war and anti-government articles. The articles disappeared from the webpage within the hour, but because of the effort of internet archivists, they can still be viewed separately today.  This is one of many examples of the Russian government’s attacks on free media, one that activists and archivists hope to counter. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, almost all independent media has been banned or blocked, and journalists are frequently imprisoned over trumped-up charges, according to Reporters Without Borders. To preserve over two decades of independent Russian journalism, exiled journalists and activists teamed up with PEN’s Freedom to Write Center to create the Russian Independent Media Archive, or RIMA. “There is no freedom to write if there is no freedom to read,” Liesl Gerntholtz, director of PEN’s Freedom to Write Center, told VOA. Currently, the website houses over 6 million documents from 98 outlets, starting from the year 2000 — when Russian President Vladmir Putin first came to power. Co-founders Anna Nemzer, Ilia Veniavkin and Serob Khachatryan began the project around the time of the Ukraine invasion. The restrictive anti-war censorship laws that followed threatened press freedom and journalist safety in Russia, Nemzer told VOA. More than 1,500 journalists fled the country after the invasion and 22 were imprisoned at the end of last year, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists. “I remember thinking: how can we help these people?” Nemzer told VOA. “We couldn’t help them relocate; we couldn’t help them avoid prison if they stayed in Russia, but we thought the least we could do was save archives of their work.” At the time of the invasion, Nemzer was on a business trip outside of her home in Moscow, and she remains exiled today. Nemzer hopes the archive will protect work that is or might be “deliberately erased” by the government. The main audience for the archive is journalists, academics and researchers who may not have access to relevant documents when they write about Russia. Gerntholtz of PEN sees this archive as the “first draft of history,” she told VOA. But Nemzer also believes she is doing a service for the archived independent journalists, both in and outside Russia, by preserving their work. PEN’s Freedom … “Russian journalism archive aims to protect independent voices from media suppression” →

Budapest — Ukraine’s new foreign minister held a “frank” conversation with his Hungarian counterpart on “difficult issues” on Monday, against a backdrop of a frosty relationship between the neighboring countries. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been the only EU leader to maintain close ties with the Kremlin since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He has repeatedly stalled efforts to punish Moscow and to aid war-torn Ukraine in its fight against the invading forces. Budapest refuses to approve the release of more than $7.25 billion to Kyiv, complaining about discriminatory measures against Hungarian companies. “We had a very frank one-on-one conversation discussing difficult issues, among other things,” Andriy Sybiga told reporters after a meeting with Hungary’s top diplomat, Peter Szijjarto, in Budapest. The negotiations between the two ministers “lasted about an hour, twice as long as planned,” according to a statement from the Ukrainian ministry. Speaking at a press conference, Sybiga welcomed Orban’s first visit to Kyiv at the beginning of July and called for “the development of bilateral relations,” saying he could “count on Budapest’s support” in its EU integration process. “Our meeting today has convinced me that … there is a mutual and common will to develop neighborly relations,” Szijjarto added. But Hungary’s foreign minister also urged Kyiv to refrain from “unilateral, sudden steps” that could “pose a challenge” to the central European country’s energy supply. In July, Budapest accused Kyiv of threatening its energy security by barring Russian energy giant Lukoil from using the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline. Earlier this month, Hungarian energy company MOL made a deal guaranteeing the supply of Russian oil. The two ministers also agreed to accelerate efforts by an intergovernmental working group set up to address a long-running feud over minority rights in Transcarpathia, a western Ukrainian region home to an ethnic Hungarian community.  …